There will be 'fixes' (both buffs and nerfs) to the abilities of various classes in pretty much every patch. None of those changes are going to make the first 30 or so levels significantly different so waiting before making your character will have no benefits. What the changes will do is potentially change the builds people use at high levels (and so may also change the exotic gear types that people want) but really the most that would be an incentive to do is not buy exotic 80 gear for a few days until we know whether investing in condition rather than direct damage will become a better idea.

Rangers are perfectly fine: I leveled to 80 and went on to play tons of WvW and Dungeons and never felt underpowered.

To be honest I don't get where all the whine is coming from. Maybe sPvP, maybe the fact that the "iconic" ranger weapon longbow utterly fails at doing dps (tipp: if you want to use a bow, use shortbow, or prepare yourself to join the whine camp).

Even if there were some massive Ranger change coming on 15 November (which it sounds like there isn't), why wouldn't you want a head-start on your Ranger anyway? Even in that case, what difference would it make to wait?

Warrior is just superior with ranged gameplay. Rifle for single target sniper feel and longbow for aoe doom. You are also not reliant on pet.

Either way i would wait for 15th and see what ranger gets and engineer. Maybe both of them become better at long range.

typographie, on 09 November 2012 - 03:45 PM, said:

Even if there were some massive Ranger change coming on 15 November (which it sounds like there isn't), why wouldn't you want a head-start on your Ranger anyway? Even in that case, what difference would it make to wait?

Why do rangers need to be fixed anyway? What's wrong with them currently? The only thing I can think of now is how fragile pets can be in PvE.

Also, out of topic, are Rangers the only class getting a "fix" in the Lost Shores patch?

All spirits expect the elite one are useless, most Signets too but at least some of them can be made worthwhile with a Grandmaster trait, all shouts expect one is useless and those are what they said they are going to fix. Traps are good but only with a Master and Grandmaster trait which for some inexplicable reason are in a trait line which buffs crits, I hope that gets fixed, too.

Another huge issue about Rangers is that pets don't have a dodge mechanic and thus are next to useless in certain situations; more minor issues is that many pets hardly ever hit moving targets, pets sometimes take 1-2 seconds until they actually respond to your commands and that you cannot activate skill #2 and #3 manually. I doubt however that those issues get fixed in the next update.

All professions get some bug fixes (I've heard that Engineers alone will get ~30, though don't nail me on this) but afaik no other profession will get an overhaul.

Lack of worthwhile utility skills - pretty much all of our signets suck (look at thief signets and then look at ours) Traps are ok at best. Our spirits are terrible unless you spec heavily into them. And all but 1 of the pet shouts aren't worth taking a utility slot.

Pets are supposed to be a large portion of our damage, yet are slow and clumsy - Pets stop before they attack, meaning they will NEVER hit a moving target. Their F2 skills have a ridiculously long charge up, leading to the same problem. They become useless when attack enemies on/from a wall in WvW, as they cannot path down to them.

The longbow is waaay too slow - While the damage is good, you must remain at long range for optimal damage, and the projectile speed is so slow an enemy can dodge simply by running right or left. In addition the 1h Sword has a bug where the #1 attack roots you in place.

In PvE you can get away with playing any class any way you want to. Just try one and keep playing it if you like it; our opinions should have no weight on what you like to play. That said, rangers are in definite need of a boost in certain areas such as pet AI and support utilities. For sPvP they have only one viable build. The upcoming patch will address these issues. If if you're planning on using one in WvW, I can tell you that they have great situational use. You shouldn't expect to be a stellar solo roam ganker, but you can expect to be a team player. For siege battles you can sic your pets on players outside of gates and rain AoEs on them from a very safe distance. In group fights, your pets do a very good job of harassing slipping through ranks and harassing squishy casters, while using your shortbow to knockback and harass melee fighters.

Start a ranger, enjoy your pet, get a feel for the class, do not wait for the patch to begin. :-)
For the person saying he should start a warrior.. why? LOL
Lots of folks are drawn to ranger for the fun of the idea of using pets and such.

If you're going to wait for patches to make a profession "the best" instead of just playing what you like best, then you're going to be waiting a long time. While you think rangers are subpar, there are ranger players out there that put everyone else to shame, and vice versa.

Go ahead and make your Ranger. Dont listen to all the naysayers. Like all professions, you have to pay attention to its special mechanic to optimize performance. I agree, Rangers need more diversity and a better 1 skill on the longbow. But, its still my favorite prof to play.

I got bored of my ranger fast when I was a glass cannon power build. Then I went into a Condition based build and have enjoyed the class ever since. I'm 99% in WvW, so building survival and speed was key for me. Can't wait to see what improvements the Dev-gods are bringing us.

If you're going to wait for patches to make a profession "the best" instead of just playing what you like best, then you're going to be waiting a long time. While you think rangers are subpar, there are ranger players out there that put everyone else to shame, and vice versa.

Exactly this. Don't worry about finding the most powerful profession - Find one that you enjoy. I played a ranger as my main all through GW1 and have one to level 80 in GW2 because I enjoy it.

That said, pets are what I hope they fix most. As I got into higher level areas, bears became almost a necessity to keep the pet from dying every few seconds. I loved spiders and felines, but I can't use them anymore.

I wouldn't wait for the patch, though. From what other guys have said here, it sounds like the ranger will just be getting better.

Rangers are perfectly fine: I leveled to 80 and went on to play tons of WvW and Dungeons and never felt underpowered.

To be honest I don't get where all the whine is coming from. Maybe sPvP, maybe the fact that the "iconic" ranger weapon longbow utterly fails at doing dps (tipp: if you want to use a bow, use shortbow, or prepare yourself to join the whine camp).

Rangers aren't perfectly fine but are not utterly broken like some say. SB and LB both have strengths and weaknesses hence why a lot of rangers use both. A lot of the whine comes from the broken pet mechanics and the slow response f2 skill. The LB doesn't fail at doing dps if used right its DPS can be extremely high (ex. at range/rapid fire with QZ). Overall making a ranger now won't hurt at all.